National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.) / Seong-Jin Cho / Gianandrea Noseda
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 / Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5
A programme of contrasts
»With some artists you know after just a few seconds: aha, this is someone who has something to say,« the Hamburger Abendblatt commented enthusiastically on Seong-Jin Cho’s piano recital last season. Now the sophisticated South Korean, who has made Berlin his home, returns to Hamburg as the soloist in what is probably Beethoven’s finest piano concerto, a showpiece for this pianist with the poetic touch and a clear musical ideal.
After the interval, the National Symphony Orchestra from Washington supplies a drastic contrast to the Beethoven in the shape of Shostakovich’s bombastic Fifth Symphony, a work that poses a puzzle to this day. Is the triumphant march at the end meant as a farce? Was the composer pulling the wool over the eyes of the repressive Soviet regime, or was he actually bowing to political pressure? Concertgoers can decide that for themselves.
Performers
National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.)
Seong-Jin Cho piano
conductor Gianandrea Noseda
Programme
Carlos Simon
Concerto for Orchestra
Ludwig van Beethoven
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 4 in G major, Op. 58
– Interval –
Dmitri Schostakowitsch
Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47
Soloist’s encore:
Joseph Haydn
3. Satz Finale. Molto vivace / aus: Sonate e-Moll Hob. XVI:34
Orchestra’s encore:
Edward Elgar
Nimrod / aus: Enigma-Variationen op. 36
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